The Face Of True Friendship

Isn’t it just beautiful to have people we call friends? All of us enjoy being around social circles in which we feel warm and accepted. Friends help us move on with life in good and bad times. The world would really be boring if you lived alone, even though we are sometimes hurt by the people we love. Life makes more meaning when it’s full of drama, not on a daily basis but at least something to keep us anticipating, anxious, nervous, happy, or just peaceful. We all love having friends. As a matter of fact, we all have them, or at least people we call friends.

But really, what does true friendship entail? What’s the true face of friendship? At what point of your relationship with someone do you call them a true friend to you or you a true friend to them? Nothing in this world is valuable if it has not been tested. The same way you cannot really claim to be someone’s true friend if you have never been brought under some sort of tension in your interaction with them to the point that you feel that your emotions have been affected. Metal is hardened by fire. How many of us can stand going through a hard time for a friend or a person we value?

Sometimes you may wrong someone or the vice versa, and all of a sudden the person you thought would understand you is the same one who abandons you in a ditch of problems and worries. And that’s not new. Even Peter, of all the disciples, denied Jesus three good times at the moment when he felt he would have been killed with Jesus had he agreed that he knew him. And how did Jesus react to this? It never made him hate Peter. And even before he left the world, he made PETER the head of the church. Look at that depth of love. I mean, what more could you ask for from a friend?

John 15:13–15

”There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends…”

– Jesus Christ

I do not care which part of the world you’re reading this from. Love is love, it knows no religion nor race. It is ONE. Never claim to be someone’s friend if you are not there for them in their hard times. It makes a difference even just to understand someone even when you cannot really give out any financial aid or anything physical depending on what they need. Just lending an ear. People look for big ways to make a difference. Well, that’s not the case in life. Give someone a shoulder to lean on and you have changed their life. If they are sensible, they’ll be grateful to you for the rest of their life. And don’t do it to earn recognition or for personal gain, because then you will have done nothing but cheating yourself and thinking that you can mock God.

If you cannot stand the test of being someone’s friend, then better be distant from them. You can never measure the strength of a friendship merely by the good times you share with someone. You know the true hearts of people when a hard time comes.

The world is a very small place. God wants us to be real with life and live it like we know what we are really doing on earth. He is happy when we are true to the people we claim to love. True friendship stands the test of time. But if you denie someone or leave them when they need you most, you are killing a soul, you’re breaking God’s heart, and you’re making yourself weaker. No amount of wealth nor contempt can ever match the worth of a true friend.